On the Turning Away

The interpretations began flying in from all directions almost immediately after Bret Bielema's unnecessarily public sour grapes moment. Accusing Urban Meyer of illegal recruiting - while providing no specifics to the allegation - is impossible to do quietly, so Bielema couldn't have expected no one to notice.

He also shouldn't have expected any sympathy, though it's hard to read what his intentions might have been. If they were to appear pedantic and bitter, he succeeded.

Consensus opinion was that Meyer was simply planting the flag for the new one-team SEC North. He was just more aggressive and ruthless than the crotchety B1G coaches were accustomed to. Bielema alleged that it had long been customary to back off of recruits once they verbally committed to a fellow conference member, and Meyer was not making nice with the other children.

Any notion of a legitimate gentleman's agreement is fly-covered crap, regardless of what Mark Dantonio also said about such a fantasy. A coach who concedes a recruit he actually wants to a rival is a coach that loves to lose, regardless of conference.

Those alibis are all fine only if you begin with the caricature of B1G coaches as a group of provincial aristocrats content to being the champions of farmland, versus recent SEC coaches like Meyer who prefer to go Alexander the Great over all time zones. There's a degree of truth to that. At least there has been.

However, lost in what turned into universal scorn toward Bielema were some crucial backstories. As has become customary for Ohio State stories floating around the media, important information was missing; details that provide additional tips into Bielema's frustration.

This time, however, the verdict didn't require those clues: The only thing the court of public opinion hates more than a snitch is a whining snitch.

Meyer had shown up at Ohio State during the 11th hour of the recruiting season and flipped lifelong Buckeye fan and Ohio native Kyle Dodson from an already-wavering Wisconsin pledge into a bellicose Ohio State commitment. For anyone familiar with Dodson prior to last week, his commitment did not fit the normal profile of recruiting theft. It was more of an inevitability.

This wasn't Florida native Stanley McClover abruptly flipping from Ohio State to Auburn for what turned out to be the right price. Dodson was always destined to be a Buckeye. In fact, were it not for the typical gross negligence of former OL coach Jim Bollman, Bielema would have never had the chance to complain.

Dodson is an offensive tackle from Cleveland. Bollman left the Ohio State roster virtually absent of tackles for 2012, marking the ninth straight offseason where line depth will be a concern. The Buckeyes could literally lose all of their tackles with any game experience to injuries on one single, grotesque play this September.

Bollman apparently couldn't be bothered to go all the way to Cleveland to recruit Dodson. He was a fit for Ohio State in every single category, yet he was categorically ignored until it was too late: He committed to Wisconsin hours after finally being acknowledged by Ohio State in the wake of Tressel's departure.

It wasn't as though Dodson was unique in being blown off by his favorite school: During the Tressel era, Ohio high school football produced 23 eventual NFL offensive line draft picks. That's nearly two dozen professional blockers from the Buckeye state.

This embarrassment of homegrown riches - in a state where most of the kids, like Dodson, grow up dreaming of becoming Buckeyes - sent exactly two guards and two tackles to Tressel teams.

The rest went elsewhere, as Bollman's OL depth charts throughout the decade routinely featured players slated as both starters and backups elsewhere on the line. Either his talent evaluation or recruiting effort was a failure. The truth is that both should have been deemed unacceptable many years ago.

The walrus "guarded" the hen house during the Tressel era.

For all of Tressel's triumphs, his largest failure - outside of his aversion to acquiesce with petty yet devastating compliance issues - was keeping the company of his cronies. Bollman did everything but steal from Ohio State, commanding the team's biggest liability throughout the decade without the risk of termination.

He had no pressure to perform, and that entitlement was passed down to the sprinkling of linemen he brought in. There is a reason the Buckeyes had so many three and four-year starters during his tenure: Necessity. Lack of competition and depth have a negative impact on options.

Contrast Tressel's cronyism with Meyer's edict to his coaches that they would have no value to Ohio State unless they could recruit and you have a terrifying new reality for the Big Ten that is much bigger than Dodson ever will be: The Buckeyes were a colossal pain in the ass over the past decade, at partial strength. That was good enough to win the conference, which is no longer the trophy for Meyer's Buckeyes.

Tressel kept a combination of young and hungry position coaches that carried the water for dead weight like Bollman and absurdly ridiculous promotions like "QB Coach" Nick Siciliano. Being casually late to recruit, settling for Plan D guys, casting a small net - yet still running roughshod over the conference suggests two possibilities: One, the B1G is just as lousy as everyone says it is, and two, the Buckeyes might have been underachieving during the best run it has ever had.

Most B1G athletic directors are content with hiring cute little night watchmen for their big stadium revenue producers. The fear and loathing emanating from Madison and East Lansing is a product the new, conspicuous reality: The days of the B1G being preoccupied with provincial championships are over. The bar is now higher, especially with Meyer in the fraternity.

Similarly, the era of Ohio State sending farmers out onto the recruiting trail instead of killers has officially expired. Collecting talent annually that includes a significant portion of players who always wanted to be Buckeyes worked fine for Tressel.

Under Meyer, there won't be any sanctuary for coaches apathetic toward recruiting. He made that clear immediately.

Farming the Ohio State brand to fill the pipeline worked for the first six months of each recruiting cycle under Tressel. Each class predictably staggered to the finish once actual hunting became necessary to win. Meyer's arrival late in the season created a force rarely if ever seen in December and January: Buckeye coaches aggressively hunting for their future stars without the benefit of a large spring cache of elite verbals.

The success of his schemes and game day strategies remain to be seen, but the attitude toward recruiting aggression is one element that Buckeye football has sorely lacked since the Cooper era. The conference title, on hold for a single year in purgatory, is still a checkmark en route to something bigger. Beating Michigan, as was the case under Tressel, shouldn't be considered a variable either.

There isn't a whole lot for Meyer to upgrade from where Tressel left the program after 2010, but what requires improvement is getting it, and with urgency. Bielema - as well as Dantonio, who temporarily had Se'Von Pittman in his clenches exclusively on account of Ohio State's turmoil - now have a full understanding of what they're up against during the offseason, and it looks nothing like what they're used to seeing from Columbus.

Dodson's flip won't be the last time Bielema loses to Meyer because he was unprepared for what Ohio State was bringing to the table. Unless he enjoyed the universal backlash, it should be the last time he accuses Meyer of cheating to to beat him.

I cannot wait to see Urban's Buckeye 2.0 football team unleash hell on the rest of the Big Ten starting this year! We are going to be stronger, faster, more aggressive, and more ruthless than we've seen since the days of the Ole Man himself!!! Cannot WAIT until Buckeye 2.0 absolutely destroys Wisc and fat baby Bret in their house before turning their teeth on Ann Arbor Community College!!!

The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced

A scathing article about Jim bollman and his failures...........I like it! good read!

FWIW, a coach that backs off a recruit because he verballed to a team but isn't fully committed, is a fired coach! Go ahead Bulimia, walk away from every recruit that said he may or may not go to another team. You'll be out on your ass in no time!

I lean more towards not caring because from what we all know with Dodson, all they had to do was make an offer not even go see the kid and he would have committed. Even a lazy person could bring top O-line recruits to OSU.

now there could be a possibility that either players did not want to play for Bollman because they knew what we knew or he was riding the success of the Brew Crew not caring what was to come afterwards. Maybe he was planning on retiring after they left.

Being casually late to recruit, settling for Plan D guys, casting a small net - yet still running roughshod over the conference suggests two possibilities: One, the B1G is just as lousy as everyone says it is, and two, the Buckeyes might have been underachieving during the best run it has ever had.

Sadly, I think the B1G may have been worse than everyone says it was. It was fun watching Tressel's teams beat up on the B1G, but I always did have the feeling of man, this team should have more to show for it. I know there was a title and many BCS bowls and several wins in the BCS bowls, but I was always left feeling like Ohio State just wasn't quite up there with USC, Florida, LSU and others.

I think with Urban, you have a totally different philosophy on running a program. You have a guy who wants to put the best athletes on the field all the time. You have a guy who is relentless in recruiting, relentless on planning and preparing, and relentless in getting every ounce of talent he can out of his players. I've been saying it all along. He's going to take this program to new heights. That doesn't mean I expect a title in 2013, but you are going to see a new Buckeye style of football. I don't just mean the formations they are running and X's and O's stuff. It's just a different attitude. The team is going to take on their coach's personality. No push over, no letting off of guys, no taking it easy. I expect we're going to see a bunch of hungry players flying all over the field that hit hard and take no prisoners. Finally, we are going to see a angry bunch. It's going to be fun to watch an intimidating team. One that puts it's foot on the other teams throat and stomps. There will off years and such, but in general Urban Meyer's Buckeyes are going to be a very fun group to watch, and not a very fun group for the rest of the B1G to have to deal with.

Not sure of the age group of most of the posters on this site (I would guess much younger than myself), but for me, I absolutely grew up on Woody Hayes football!!! My dad was a football coach and every Saturday, no matter what we were doing, all activity stopped and nothing interfered with the game. 75% of them weren't broadcast on TV so it was the crackling AM radio broadcast that riveted you to the game. Toss about any percentage you want but during Woody's tenure, half the teams or better were already defeated by intimidation prior to the first snap. If you didn't bring your A+ game, you were going to get your ass whopped and you were going to be physically and emotionally dominated in all facets of the game! I get the EXACT same feeling with what Urban is bring back to OSU!!! I cannot wait to witness that fear and dominance again!!! I will be glorious to see in HD!!!

The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced

I'm 30, so I wasn't alive for any of the Woody years, and football really wasn't something I loved until I was 12 or so. So, my Ohio State experience is Cooper to present. I can only think of a handful of teams in my 18 years or so of fandom that have invoked that kind of intimidation. FSU had several teams in the 90's that were just nasty on both sides of the ball. A few of the Canes teams as well, both in the 90's and again in that run they had that the Buckeyes ended. They won what, 35 strait games or something insane and that's really all I remember aside from maybe some of the great USC teams in the 2000's, they were rich with talent, and I got a feeling most of those teams could beat anyone at any time, but they also brainfarted a lot and lost dumb games. I don't know, am I missing anyone?

I'd love to see Ohio State become that kind of team, without all the off the field BS, and unsportsmanlike junk on the field of course.

I was going to post something similiar. IMO this is the first time since Woody that the Buckeyes are being led by a coached by someone with the eniter package! (name, ruthlessness, cares for kids, etc) The Ohio State name can recruit on its own but we finally have the coaching name/will to go out and take the best players in the country. For everyone acrossed the conference that was laughing and happy to see Tressel resign, be careful what you wish for. Urban is the big tens worst nightmare! No more "Mr. Nice Guy" Tressel. The Buckeyes are going to win and when you are hanging by a thread Meyer will make sure that final thread gets cut! Tressel was a great coach and you cant take away his accomplishments but Urban is going to bring the full pakage back to OSU!

Woody stopped the 'Grave Yard of Coaches' moniker and his early years he wasn't as dominate because he was just starting out and it took awhile to build up the reputation of Ohio State. However, when you start looking at the scores and record around 68 until he got fired - you will see some big big scores and wide margins of victory. You also have to remember that Woody really did not like to pass that much so a vast majority of those scores were built up running the ball 75% or greater and defensive scores. Pretty impressive when you view it in the day of the 'Three Yards in a Cloud of Dust' era.

As for Tressel's legacy - he will always be a great coach for OSU and although his conservative 'nice guy' brand of football drove me nuts at times, he was and always will be one of my favorite Buckeye coaches behind the Old Man!

The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced

I don't want to come off sounding as though I didnt appreciate Tressel's accomplishments and what he did at this university, but I have to wonder would his teams have been as good if he came along 10 years earlier. I understand he would had success against Michigan because of the value he put on that game, but do you think he would've dominated the B1G? I guess it's really impossible to tell for sure, but I have my reservations. I also wonder if he would've been able to have the same success at a different program in a different conference. I'm just not sure.

I just wish that he could have prepared for every game the way he did the Michigan game. I think Urban Meyer prepares for every game as if it is the BCS title game to be quite honest, and that's why he has had so much success virtually everywhere he goes. At first it seemed like Tressel was that guy. For a few years there was not a better big game coach out there with his BCS success and dominance over AACC. Then there was this game in Arizona against this coach named Urban Meyer, and after that game it seemed like Tressel's big game reputation was never the same, and his teams were never quite the same in big games either.

Hmm, hard to say. I still think we would've won more B1G championships and beaten Michigan more than we did. It would've been hard to win the B1G 70% of the time and beat Michigan 90% of the time back then, though. There were some weak B1Gs and some pretty bad Michigan teams during Tressel's years. Michigan, and the B1G as a whole, were tougher and deeper back then. Though what would've been great was if Tressel had taken our Buckeyes up to the Whore House back in 1997 and ruined Michigan's perfect season.

As great as Tressel was, Urban brings the one thing that Tressel lacked - that play to win, keep the gas pedal floored mentality. Tressel sometimes had us play too tight, like we're trying not to lose and trying to not make the key mistake that could cost us the game. Sometimes, that mentality bit us, and might have held us back from doing even more than what we did under him. Tressel killed people with kindness. Urban just wants to kill people.

Not sure if I can back this up with statistics, but I think a big reason scUM sucked so bad during JT's tenure, as well as the rest of the B1G being down, is that he locked down recruiting in the state of Ohio. It's pretty well documented that many of scUM's all time best players were from Ohio, especially the guys in the 90s. When JT got here, he shut down that pipeline and scUM suffered because of it. It's not just that JT prepared for the Michigan game more than others, but he left Michigan at a decided disadvantage the entire season because gone were the Desmond Howards and Charles Woodsons that Cooper let get away. Meyer seems to get how important Ohio players are to the success of Ohio State (see Pittman and Dodson). He still needs to recruit heavily out of state, but the key is keeping our best players home and especially not let them go up north.

Might have been done and I'm just not aware, but I'd love to see a poll asking the age of 11w visitors. Would be interesting to see what percentage of readers have lived through the various eras of buckeye football.

They did a poll that asked those type of questions in (I think) late summer, but it would still be interesting to see again. Based on the server upgrades, I'm sure lots of accounts have been added since then.

We should strive to keep thy name, of fair repute and spotless fame...

I am also a Cooper era fan. I wish I could have seen those Woody days. Only team I would say comes close since then was the championship team in 2002. That defense was pretty intimidating and the running game was smash mouth football. Krentzel was a controlling, smart QB. I just wish Tressel stuck with that instead of trying to run that hybrid do anything crap with Pryor. He got some success with Troy smith and it really changed the path the team was taking. I would also repeat the failure of Bollman really changed how this team is perceived. Urban is starting to create that fear again and I love it. Bulimia is acting like this cuz he knows the Kraken has woken up!

I'm the same age as Tom Brady. And don't have a supermodel wife, championship rings, or live in a mansion. It's all I can do not to feel like the biggest failure and disappointment to my parents either - I feel ya brother. Bro Hug.

Nicely said BT. Lead, follow or get out of the way. I'm afraid the B1G is going to see a lot of coaching turnover before they seem to "Get It". Bulemia and Dano don't look the part of AZZ kickers. Ferentz, the Talking Mustache in West Lafeyete, C Ya!. Even Flounder needs to be warned. Pelini, are you man enough? I guess we'll see..........

This latest whining by other B1G coaches kind of supports my theory that the B1G's biggest problem is not the SEC and how they recruit, or ESPN hating the B1G. Their problems are in the culture of the conference and the horrible coaching that is employed in the B1G. Open up the bank account, go out and get some aggressive recruiters on your coaching staff, hire either some young hungry up and coming assistants or go out and get great established coordinators and go to work.

Every conference will have some garbage programs. There's probably no hope for Indiana ever, but no reason why schools like Minnesota, Purdue, and Illinois can't get over the hump and be decent. They could easily get the kind of recruits that would put them on par with some of the midling teams of a conference like the SEC. Illinois has the ability to recruit talent that would put them on par with teams like Tennessee or South Carolina.

It's so hard for me to believe that Purdue can't fill their stadium on game days anymore. They have had some great teams over the years and now they are garbage.

I tend to agree. I think our problems as a conference are self inflicted. The old adage, "You get what you pay for", is very apt here. Pound 'em until they change. A little negative re-enforcement never hurt anyone ;)

Agreed. Indiana's problem is they're the 3rd best team in the state in their best years. The talent is developing at the HS level here that it didn't have 10 years ago. But all these kids are going to ND, Purdue, and Ohio State. Until that changes there is no hope.

I think Beckman will do well at Illinois. And like you said, should be able to recruit. Maybe not compete for B1G titles every year but maybe every 5.

WOW! What a great read. I can not even imagine what the beast that is The Ohio State University is going to look like when fully awake and stocked. Gone are the days of coasting to a victory in prevent offense and defense. Go Gettem Coach!

I long for the days of a 72-0 Ass whooping of Pitt. I was there for that game. Cooper Era yes, But the dude could RECRUIT. I'm glad Ramzy reiterates this point. Coops merry band of misfits used to run through the regular season, up until the Michigan game, like a hot knife through butter.

That was my first quarter at tOSU. To start that season we beat Rice 70-7, Pitt 72-0, went on the road to the Golden Domers and beat them 29-16, then came home and beat #4 State Penn 38-7. What a great start....then came Michigan and Tai Streets (only after Shawn Springs fell down...happened right in front of me). I have a lot of good memories of the middle of the Cooper years, but also a lot of scar tissue built up that 9 wins over Michigan and a NC helped repair.

Fong isn’t necessarily a person. Fong is more of an ideal, it’s a belief, and it’s a way to live. Something you can hang your hat on and say “yea I know fong…and he knows me” Fong is… to some degree in all of us.

Hell of an article, Ramzy. I'm a little worried that Meyer only lasts 4-6 years in Columbus. The culture in the Big Ten needs to change, and it won't if he has a short tenure. Having Ohio State open up the checkbook to get elite coaches was just the first domino to fall in a lagging Big Ten. The rest of the conference needs to follow suit. Minnesota's firing of Glen Mason for cheaper alternatives is an example of what can no longer happen if this league is going to be worth the money it draws in.

But this is a very good, albeit scathing, indictment of Bollman and Tressel. We definitely stuck by those guys through thick and thin (for me up until that last loss to USC, anyway). I hope we do the same for Meyer.

I think Meyer will be here 6-10 and possibly more. We saw on the recruiting trail he is just as intense as ever. I don't think we're going to get this dull version of Meyer who will never be able to coach the same again. Granted, he still hasn't coached a game, but I remember when an article was done talking about Coach K and how he had a gut check moment much like Meyer did. In my opinion we're getting the equivalent version of the "new" coach K. The guy who got perspective after basically being away from coaching for a year. The guy who did learn how to balance his coaching with his personal life. I absolutely think the Urban Meyer Ohio State is getting is going to be the same or better coach that Florida had.

Again, he hasn't coached a down yet, but from the recruiting season he had, I'd say he's just as intense and focused as ever. I honestly think because of the balance he has found in his life, and he has answered that question a million times already, we could see coach Meyer here for a long long time. I also think, though, if he is only here for 5 years, Ohio State is going to be a much better program because of it. Are there 2 better mentors Fickell could have than JT and Urban Meyer. If the guy is the heir to Urban's throne, wow, he may actually be very good once Urban steps aside, and Luke takes over. If it's not Fickell, this will be a job EVERYONE wants. Urban runs a tight ship so NCAA trouble won't be an issue(please God don't let it be a problem) and you have to think the team will be coming off quite a successful period. There will be many lining up for this job.

At any rate, I have a feeling 5 years of Urban at Ohio State and business is going to be quite different many places around the B1G. They are either going to have to shit or get off the pot. Will this be the Big 1 and little 11, Big 2 and little 10, or will there be some other teams worthwhile that's the big question.

Not to give the walrus a bye on his ineptitude, but is it possible that Tressel purposely neglected the OL in order to leave more room for the "skill" players? I can't believe Tressel would just obliviously allow Bolltard to continually ignore the OL.

In all of this noise is the quite sound of agreement coming from that town up north of me in Toledo. You didn't hear Hoke whine about Meyer's recruiting because Hoke gets it. He may actually want what Ohio State wants: a BCS title trophy.* It's "Game On" for everyone in the B1G, and the rest of the teams' coaches better understand it. It should no longer be acceptable for B1G A.D.'s and head coaches to be thrilled with a 6-6 record and a trip to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. It's high time the B1G becomes better, much better. That will take a complete overhaul of the recruiting philosophies of a lot of these coaches who are far too content with their mediocre lives.

* And it's up to The Ohio State University to stop him from getting that trophy. And stop him, we will! He'll never get to play in that game as long as the Buckeyes have Urban Meyer as their head coach!

As a Michigan fan, I respect this type of healthy mutual disdain. To be honest, I'm actually glad that Ohio hired Urban Meyer because it ups the ante for us and for the rest of the conference. I think Hoke is perfectly capable of going toe-to-toe with Meyer both on the field and on the recruiting trail, but I'm all for raising the level of competition.

Very true Squirrel Master, comparing a coach with 2 NCs and a top overall winning percentage to a guy barely over .500? I'll never understand the comparison ttun fans make. Guess that happens when you are desperate for something to hang your hope on.

All I have to say is we'll see. No one can deny that Urban has an amazing track record, but if there's anyone who can go toe-to-toe with him, it's Hoke. Urban has taken over programs that were already in good shape, whereas Hoke has won at places that were chronically dysfunctional before he arrived.

In any case, I can't wait until 11/24/12. I think we can all agree on that.

"if there's anyone who can go toe-to-toe with [Urban], it's Hoke"-- hmm.. out of all the coaches in the landscape of college football, you pick Hoke?!?!? If it was my pick, I'd have gone with Nick Saban because of the mult. national championships they have in common, not a coach who, prior to this season, had a sub .500 record and only bowl win was the Poinsetta. Maybe I'm being too rational.

"Urban has taken over programs that were already in good shape" When Urban took over BG, he was taking over a program in good shape? Utah and UF weren't in terrible shape, but he took them to unbelieveable heights. LedUtah to an undefeated season in the modern era and Florida had success on a level that well, they'd never had before.

"Hoke has won at places that were chronically dysfunctional before he arrived" Yes, Hoke won at a sub .500 pace. Remarkable.

Like I said, all I can say is we'll see. I'm not comparing Hoke's track record to Urban's. Urban has had success that few coaches can even dream of. But Hoke blew away our expectations both on the field and on the recruiting trail. He's a much better coach than his career record indicates. I have confidence in our coach the same way you do in yours. There's not much more that can be said before 11/24/12.

You don't go by what he has done off the field, but on the field. He is barely above .500 W/L in his career. Wins and losses are what matter in the end. He barely beat a less than mediocre buckeyes team last year in AA. Now he will be playing against a OSU team that does not have all of those outside distraction and a new coach that won't be afraid to drop 50 on them. Just sayin.

Urban has taken over programs that were already in good shape, whereas Hoke has won at places that were chronically dysfunctional before he arrived.

Yeah because Bowling Green and Utah were in terrific shape before Urbz got there. Nice how you gloss over that.

Fong isn’t necessarily a person. Fong is more of an ideal, it’s a belief, and it’s a way to live. Something you can hang your hat on and say “yea I know fong…and he knows me” Fong is… to some degree in all of us.

Dude - if you're going to hang around on an Ohio State board, then stop insulting us by using that fucking Ohio title. Ohio is a school in Athens, they play in the MAC and their mascot is a Bobcat. Ohio State University is the Buckeyes...

The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced

Seriously, Shitigan fans sound like total dumbasses when they drop the State. Not because it's not an insult but because there actually is another school called Ohio. Maybe it would work if there wasn't the Ohio Bobcats but there is.

It would be like Ohio State fans refering to M*chigan as Michigan State. It just doesn't work.

Ray: I noticed in the online extra letters to the editor that a number of people were comparing Brady Hoke referring to Ohio State as “Ohio” to Woody Hayes referring to Michigan as “That School Up North.”

Here is the difference between the two: There is no actual university called “That School Up North” whereas there most certainly is an actual university called “Ohio” with a football team that plays in the Mid-American Conference.

Imagine how confused our friends in Athens must have been to see that TSUN finally beat them when they hadn’t even played.

— Pamela Mason, Lawrenceville, N.J.

Pamela: Yes, but doesn’t that likewise mean that the Bobcats can claim a basketball victory over Michigan now that Wolverines coach John Beilein has adopted the “Ohio” phrasing?

Damn fine read. Fair, accurate, & on point. I am & will always be a Tressel fan. Big one. I think most were. That said, I like what's going on Columbus these days & love the new approach that's being taken. At it's heart, football isn't a gentlemens game. There's plenty of room for integrity & respect - but no place whatsoever for being submissive. Looks to me like the new guy on the block might end being the best thing to happen not only to tOSU, but to the whole conference in a long time...

"Do not pass me, just slow down - I can move right through you" Superchunk - Precision Auto.

Great read as always, thanks. How you think Meyer will approach the A.J. Hawk, Dane Sanzenbacher, 3-star diamond in the rough types? Tress seemed to have a knack for seeing potential and getting a lot from some non-high profile players. Maybe getting those guys reflected better vision and work from their respective position coaches, as opposed to Bollman, but I wonder how Meyer would have viewed them as a prospects.

You know one of the things that I am most excited for, not almost losing to stupid MAC teams every year. I mean honestly what was with that? Every year we would almost lose 2-3 games we should have won by 30. You schedule cupcakes early on for a reason, it will be nice to actually dominate them. Oh and it will also be nice to consistently beat Purdue in the upcoming years.

In a way, Meyer is kind of a mix of Cooper and Tressel. He's not affraid of who he pisses off in recruiting or on the field, but he's from Ohio and he knows what it means to be involved with Ohio State and all of it's traditions. Both Cooper and Tressel had strong points and some weaknesses too. Urban kind of is a combination of both of their strengths.

I remember listening to the (Cooper coached) OSU/Purdue game on the radio one year while I was cleaning the garage, and if I remember correctly, I think it was 60 or 70 something to like 7! In the 3rd qtr.!

Actually, I kind of feel bad for the heat and crap Cooper has taken over the years. One of my friends met him a couple of years ago and said he seemed like a really nice dude.

Our teams have been lacking swagger for a long time! We came close to getting our swag back in 06 but Florida came through and stomped a mud hole in our hearts lol. Im so excited to finally have a ruthless cut-throat coach! I never cared if a team ran up the score. Hell if your dont want sum1 putting up 70 points on your defense, then stop em! lol

While I don't have a problem with honorable play and good sportsmanship, you need to have an edge to gut out those tough wins. Felt like we've been missing that. It seemed like if we fell behind we rarely could catch back up. I look forward to seeing adjustments made at halftime and guys getting fired up!

I think people forget how intimidating some of those Cooper teams were. Although biased, I think the '98 team was one of the most intimidating teams in the country over the past two decades. That defense was no joke and Coach Pagac was about as aggressive as you get. Rob Murphy and company used to hunt for knee caps on the O-line. Those guys were nasty and big.

BUT, being ultra aggressive also has some drawbacks. Those Coach Cooper teams, especially in 1996 and 1998, made some HUGE mistakes due to being over aggressive in my opinion and it cost the opportunity at a National Championship both years. Those two teams could have played with anyone in the country and won, but they didn't.

Coach Tressel, although not aggressive, had the ability to develop players and a program. He certainly didn't run the score up on lesser teams but he switched in his entire second team offensive line when the game matter. It might have kept the score down or made the game close, but it was developing a program that was more consistent than Coach Cooper's teams. His genius is even more evident in the fact that he NEVER had an offensive line like those of the 90's with Orlando Pace and Korey Stringer.

I hope Coach Meyer can continue to bring an aggressive attitude toward recruiting. I hope he can also continue to be more aggressive on offense while still developing these talented players. I hope Coach Meyer can be conservative when needed without allowing the team to lose its edge. I think Coach Meyer can do all of those things, and if he does, OSU is going to be spanking the rest of the B1G.

Interesting take. I don't think that Urban is looking to either Cooper or Tressel as guideposts for his tenure. He's as experienced as a new coaching hire can be and rightfully has a lot of his own history to draw from.

Doesn't make reminiscing any less fun though. The offseason is BORING.

Hey I love what JT did this past decade but it was ALWAYS obvious that something was missing! Its like we knew we could smack around the B1G but when it came to other big time programs across the nation, I lost all confidence after that Florida massacre. JT's kind, gentle, mr. nice guy approach really held our teams back. Just think what Urban could have done with a Terrelle Pryor??!! TP was seriously a freak of nature but it always seemed like JT kept the training wheels on him! Let your playmakers play!! And thats exactly what I think Urban is gonna do!

I think Coach Meyer should be his own coach and he will be. I'm very excited to see his offense and aggressiveness on that side of the ball.

However, Coach Tressel did NOT have a nice guy approach to football and his teams were NOT gentle. Conservative, unimaginative at times, boring at times? Absolutely. Gentle, really? A power running game and an emphasis on stopping the run is anything but gentle or nice. Only a handful of times over ten years do I remember a Coach Tressel team having their lunches handed to them (USC in 2008 comes to mind, but Joe McKnight running around OSU was the biggest issue). UF and LSU didn't pound OSU into oblivion. They also ran around OSU. I do agree with the article that OSU should have looked for another offensive line coach a long time ago. This was Coach Tressel's biggest mistake.

Immort, you said exactly what I was thinking after reading the article. Many other commentors have said it too.

What people, including me at times, would seem to forget about Tressel, was how he was able to take in less-heralded players, redshirt them and then develop them. Its why he held his upperclassmen in such high regard, b/c they "earned their stripes" so to speak. He would only let a young guy loose if he was clearly the best at the position (ie, Clarett), or if Tressel felt the kid was mature and talented enough. He rarely let a young guy play based on pure talent alone, and he had a reason for it. As much as it drove us crazy sometimes, it was a neccessity in order to fall in line with his beliefs and philosophies for the program as a whole. This is just one example that went hand-in-hand with his in-game conservative style as well.

And, like Ramzy said, he was equally conservative in his recruiting. With this, his biggest recruiting strength was how much importance he gave to The Game. He knew that in order for Ohio State to start beating scUM again, he would have to lock down Ohio kids. Anyone who knows anything about college football knows that scUM isn't worth $0.02 and a turd without Ohio kids on their roster. So by getting them, not only are you getting that talent on YOUR roster, but you're preventing THEM from getting it on THEIR roster.

But this brought his biggest recruiting weakness as well. B/c he had those Ohio kids locked down so early, he tended to be content with that, and didn't feel the need to go after the available national talent. Pryor and a couple of others were some exceptions, although he went after Pryor very early in the game, not late.

However, in regards to his in-game style, Tressel did show a knack to break away from all of his tendencies, esp. with Troy Smith, and at times with Pryor. But again, that trust and maturity HAD to be there in order for that to happen. It was just all a part of Tressel's philosophy while he ran this entire program. He had a plan, and stuck with it for the most part, and the results speak for themselves.

Now, take everything I just stated about Tressel, flip it, and you have John Cooper. He treated The Game like any other game, and paid for it. His players took on this mentality as well, i believe. He wasn't solely focused on beating scUM and locking down all the best Ohio kids, and instead went after pure talent across the country. It is my belief that those out-of-state players, along with Coop, didn't treat The Game as was required in order to be successful in it. Coop's teams beat the crap out of most teams based on little more than pure talent, instead of execution and sheer desire. I could be way off there, but its my belief. This is also why things got out of control in the lockerroom in Coop's final years.

And like Immort said, Coop was aggressive on the field too, often making calls in big games that made little sense. He wanted his best athletes on the field, otherwise there was NO reason why Stanley Jackson should have EVER started ahead of Joe Germaine. But every coach will have their strengths and weaknesses. Its all part of what comes with your specific philosophy to win.

I always said, that the perfect Ohio State head coach (besides Woody of course), was a combo of Cooper and Tressel. I believe that Meyer fits that mold better than anyone else out there. The one thing that concerns me, however, is his ability to develop less-talented players like Tressel could. Can he do that? I'm very excited to find out.

One other glaring difference I've noticed between Tressel and Meyer: Tressel seemed to develop his kids with their NFL future in mind, while Meyer seems more concerned with using a guy's talent to win exclusively in college. Tebow and Pryor are all the evidence you need to support this theory.

I take issue with your last paragraph. First of all, it seems to focus exclusively on QBs. Meyer's players like Percy Harvin, Aaron Hernandez (who just had a pretty decent Super Bowl), Pouncey bros, Joe Haden, etc all were developed not "to win exclusively in college". Even his first QB charge, Alex Smith, just had himself a nice NFL season too, now that he finally has some stability. Vaunted "pro-style" coach Harbaugh didn't seem to have an issue with Smith.

Second, --> Tebow and Pryor evidence to WHAT? One is a starting NFL qb with 1 playoff win to his record, the other hasn't played a meaningful down in the NFL and is 3rd string on a crappy team. A lot of good Tressel's "NFL development future" coaching did.

By my count, Urban now has two former QBs who are starters in the NFL with playoff wins to their name. The QBs Tressel coached are a bunch of wash-outs and nobodys in the NFL.

I probably should have been more specific. Yes, i was mainly thinking of QB's when i made that last statement. That was b/c Meyer and Tressel both worked so much with their QB's personally, and b/c its the most important position in football. I should have clarified that.

I never said Tressel was always successful at developing his QB's. My point was, Tressel trying to get Pryor ready for the NFL (which is why Pryor even came to OSU) was largely a disaster. Had Tressel used Pryor to his strengths, we're talking a whole different ball-game. But he didn't always do that b/c he probably promised him he'd get him ready for the NFL. In regards to Meyer and Tebow, Tebow WAS used to his strengths in college. It seems to me that he developed very little under Meyer.

Lets be honest here, Smith didn't exactly set the woods on fire and his running game and defense were the strengths of that squad. Tebow was used exactly how he was used in college: again, minimal development.

It is fun to talk about the other coaches and eras. The thing about Urban is, he's had more success at the highest level than both Cooper and Tressel. He's won 2 national titles and 2 other BCS games. He's been the best recruiter in college football. The guy has a more impressive resume in a shorter time frame than both the previous coaches, and he did it in the best conference in college football.

It's fascinating to me to see how people's views on here have changed regarding Tressel/Urban. Back in the days pre-Tat Gate (ie after USC loss x2 aka the FG from the 1 yard line crapfest) I'd come on here to read the comments and once in a while you'd see some poor schmuck whine about how Tressel didn't come through in the biggest games when the opponents had equal levels of talent as us. And people here would absolutely TEAR into them for suggesting that Tressel wasn't the GOD of coaches and how they weren't TRUE buckeye fans and who could we have that would be better than Tress and Urban will never come here, he's a slimy dirtbag, etc etc.

This is likely in large part because we didn't know anything else at the time. I love Tressel as much as anyone, and am certainly guilty of being one of his apologists before and after Tatgate. That said, when you don't know how good or bad your situation is from that being all you know, how can you not stick up for it? It's like people who have never lived anywhere their whole entire life but M!ch!g@n. Until they escape (or were misfortunate enough to have to move there), they just don't know how much of an amazingly similar facsimile it is to Satan's butthole.

With Meyer, we for once are seeing first hand, "hey, maybe that wasn't such a good idea," with regards to OLine management et al. Hence, why you have seen so many attitudes change, as quickly as they have.

Through all of this...I don't think tOSU wants to be like the SEC...but I do think that the mind set needs to change. The SEC is about speed. The B1G is about power. I think Urbz wants both...and so far I think he's on the right track! It's a coaching philosophy that will change.

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"The height of human desire is what wins, whether it's on Normandy Beach or in Ohio Stadium." ~Woody Hayes~

Another well written piece by Ramzy. I wonder 1) how long it is going to take for the Big Ten to catch on to what it takes to win, and 2) how long it takes for more to jump on the "unethical" bandwagon. One quality I think inherent to human nature is that if not careful, we tend to rise (or lower) ourselves to the level of competition around us. That's been Tressel the last ten years. Around the conference, winning the Big Ten was the end all and be all. Reading articles by "basement bloggers" and "real media" alike since Bret opened his trap, it was interesting to note how most focused on BB's Big Ten Championship and Rose Bowl appearance - not so much on the Rose Bowl loss or lack of a national presence. This has been something of a theme, in that the local media sees this as hey, pretty damn good.

Whereas, as has been pointed out, Urban will settle for nothing less than a MNC as his primary goal going into each season (much like his former conference mates). Along with a win against the school up north of course. This is certainly one area where I can't wait to be more like the SEC - it is just interesting if the Big Ten follows in line. It is telling that Mr. Hoke, also known as Howard Stern's former sidekick, was one of the first to see the light. With the Big Two leading the way, the Little Ten almost have no choice but to follow suit. Its either rise to the level of the highest quality teams the conference has to offer, or be embarrased by them on a regular basis en route to their fifth tier bowl game (which may not be around much longer). At least we can hope they rise up. The alternative is a witch hunt decrying Urban as an unethical cheater, an oversigner, so on and so forth - something four year scholarships will hopefully help avoid. That and folks like Ramzy calling them wusses on a regular basis.

Gonna be a lot of disappointed folks on here when Meyer's record doesn't live up to the virtually-impossible-to-match results of Tressel.

I realize it's normal to want to believe you are taking a step forward in ANY coaching change and to look for all reasons that point to that. Everyone does it and everyone is confident in the honeymoon stage, no matter what happens afterward.

But to disparage the way Tressel did things outside of NCAA compliance and hold up another way as superior and worthy of higher expectations is pretty incredible after eight BCS games in nine years (five wins), three NC game appearances (one win) and 9-1 vs. Michigan.

Tressel had flaws but provided a level of program stability that was the envy of all and it contributed greatly to the consistent confidence of his charges. That won't be so easily replaced by a man who will ponder retirement the first time he gets a bad headache or rumbly in the tumbly.

I've as much as said Tressel was the best big game coach in college football until that game against Florida. I'm not sure what happened, but from that night on, it seemed that his teams just didn't measure up. Sure they still won a BCS game after that, well 2 I guess if you count the Sugar Bowl, which I do, but they just weren't the same as those early teams.

Even during the extremely successful years there were wins that just weren't as fulfilling as they should've be(Notre Dame). Certainly, Washington State, Miami, and others were "big boys" at the time Ohio State beat, them. I'm not sure if it was losing great coaches like Dantonio that made the later Tressel teams not quite the same or what, but I'd say the last 4 or 5 years Tressel was the coach were much different than the first 4 or 5.

The first couple of years I would've put Tressel up against any coach in America in a big game. Just seemed like his gameplans were incredible. After Urban and the Gators embarrassed Ohio State, and other big games that followed, I had no confidence in his ability against coaches like Saban, Carol, and Meyer.

I think you can recognize his accomplishments, but also recognize that his teams did underacheive(especially later on) and dominate a crappy conference.

Any man who found it fit to employ The Walrus for over a decade on a major D-1 football program and didn't see anything wrong with that is open to disparaging as far as I'm concerned.

Tressel's personal accomplishments as far as charity work, giving back to the community- sure. All that is untouchable. He was a great human being, no doubt.

But on the field stuff ... the stuff we were paying him to accomplish - that's open season. The extent of Bollman's negligence is just now being realized and with it, Tressel's culpability in enabling that. It's looking more and more to me like Tressel was just a beneficiary of favorable circumstances (OSU's institutional advantages being the biggest dog around during the weakest decade ever? in the B1G, the RichRod UM Era, ) and was able to parlay that into the sterling (on its face) record of 8 BCS games, 3 NC appearences, 9-1 over UM.

Look closer and the fascade of success falls apart. He beat Miami with Cooper's players (yes, i'm going there. It was the perfect marriage of Tressel's discipline and the talent left over from Cooper's rosters). After that, what did he accomplish? He beat Cheeseburger Charlie and Brady Quinn back when people thought they were both great, which helped Tressel's reputation, but now we know that win was wayyy overrated at the time. He got curbstomped by Urban in an utter humiliation of a Title Game that to me is the Worst Loss in school history simply because it birthed an entire superiority movement in the ah... former Confederacy. He lost to a Crazy Man the year after that, a man who eats grass and was recently shut out of the next NC game he made. He found it fit to start Boeckman for a season and a half, because CLEARLY that was the best qb talent Ohio State could recruit. The only time he beat Texas in 3 tries was during Colt McCoy's first start. (ohhh how we SHOULDVE had that 2005 game, lemme tell you, the whole Zwick over Troy thing - CLASSIC Tressel). He lost to f*cking USC twice, the first time just an embarassing curb-stomping (Yes we didn't have Beanie. But how does a school with a track record like OSU somehow only manage to have ONE viable RB on its roster?). The second USC loss was because the Dear Senator decided to kick a FG. On their 1 yard line. At home. With a 6'6 250 QB. I can't even describe the feeling I had after that one. To watch U$C and their smug celeb fans (Will ferrel anyone?) SWAGGER into OUR house and for us to just roll over and DIE like that. ANd yes, He beat Oregon and Arkansas I remember. Nobody will be mistaking Arkansas and Oregon for USC, Florida, Texas and LSU anytime soon. Those are first-tier elite programs. Ark/Or are second-tier. I can understand the joy if we were a Wisky or Sparty and we beat Ark/Or, but we're SUPPOSED to beat those teams. Under Tressel, we couldn't compete with the truly elite teams in CFB, and just sat around getting fat off of the dregs of the B1G and MAC (And SERIOUSLY. what was up with the one nail-biter a year vs a MAC team. how does that even HAPPEN?)

So I'm sorry if some of us are excited with a coach who, whatever the ultimate results of his tenure will be, at least seems to WANT. IT. MORE. than a man who kicked a Field Goal at the 1 yard line in a Must-Win game at Home.

Tresselball is dead and I will not mourn for it.

EDIT : he also somehow thought a school like OSU should be rostering a QB like The Baus. Because I'm SURE that was the best talent we could muster.

Wow, I actually found myself agreeing with just about everything you said, Onetwentyeight. If you want to, read my loooong comment above. I hope Urban possesses the strengths of both Cooper and Tressel, while minimizing their weaknesses. And i think he does. I will always be a life-long Tressel fan, however. But i'm ok with those who aren't.

Yeah I went up and re-read what you wrote, pretty much what I was trying to convey, more or less. No need to re-visit the past and keep beating a dead horse I suppose. We're heading towards brighter days and I could care less about those losses now.

I agree. Dodson was our's, not his anyway. If he decides not to go to Wisconsin, then he wasn't really commited to you. Wait, isn't this the same guy that needed to go for 2 against a grossly over matched Indiana team?

Great read, keep up the good work. As far as Tressel, I never thought I'd say this but I am kind of glad he's gone. This Bollman shit is insane. I love Tress, but he enabled losers to fester on the coaching staff for far too long. The Siciliano thing is a complete joke. Bollman reminds me of Cliff Clavin, except Clavin actually left the house to work. I guess I just came to terms with not being able to make excuses anymore for Tress.

And on a side note to trolling Michigan University fans. If you say Hoke = Meyer one more time, I'm requesting a psych eval and taking you a quiet place where you can drink your fruit punch without worrying about the stresses of the 21st century. You guys are beyond delusional. It's laughable. Let's see what Mr Cheeseburger's record looks like in 5 years before you go start comissioning statues to be built.

I don't know if I agree with this statement. Fickell is an excellent defensive coordinator, as is Withers. They're also both better recruiters than Mattison. I don't know much of Borges other than his offenses at Auburn, and Herman is an up and comer, so he still has to prove himself.

Fickell has never called plays up to now and Withers had a ton of NFL talent at UNC and never actually molded them into a productive unit. We'll see about Herman, but I'm pretty underwhelmed at the DC choices.

I was under the impression that over the past couple of seasons that Luke was the defensive playcaller. I could be wrong.

Fong isn’t necessarily a person. Fong is more of an ideal, it’s a belief, and it’s a way to live. Something you can hang your hat on and say “yea I know fong…and he knows me” Fong is… to some degree in all of us.

Okay, I always suspected something was wrong with the Buckeye offensive line since 2003 and now I have a better picture/understanding of why. Jim Bollman has to be the all time worst OC in college football (what is BC thinking?). While everyone else is rejoicing over Meyer I list myself as "cautiously optimistic." He has this year to mold the team and next year to begin the onslaught he promises. OSU needs more O linemen and Meyer and his staff have shown they know how to find and get them. The 2012 defense should be great again, now he needs to inject life into the anemic offense. Like others on this site I grew up watching Ohio State led by Coach Hayes. OSU of the 50s, 60s, and 70s dominated teams upfront on both sides of the ball. If Meyer and his staff can return Ohio State to those days then big trophies will pile up in the OSU trohpy case again. Go Bucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!